I’ve been to Central Otago twice - once in 1996 and then in 2000. Those visits pre-date much of the planting in this young area - the vines were plopped in the ground for both The Canyon and Steppes vineyards in 2003. Big potential, I suspect, when some of the vines get older. I wasn’t [...]

This is a combination of two vineyards, “Steppes” and “Canyon” (you can see them on the winery website). I tasted it alongside its more expensive single vineyard parents (to be reviewed shortly). I liked it more on the first day’s tasting and fractionally less on the next, so the score is that of day one [...]

New labels and new range for Xanadu. I preferred the old labels for the Estate range and always thought they were some of the more attractive examples out there.
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The 2007 release was 13.5 percent alcohol, while this is 15 percent. Quite a stylistic difference; and probably a sign of just how hot 2008 was in the Barossa Valley.
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The 2007 Shotfire Shiraz was excellent and so too is this 2008. Was in the mood for a big, warm Barossan shiraz and this showed the way.
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Rory Lane of The Story wines (coined Rory Story by Walsh, I notice) has been making an impression with his Great Western wines over the past few years. He makes small run, hand made, high quality wines. This one has a production of 150 dozen.
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TarraWarra was first planted in 1983 and has been putting out wines since 1986. Makes them a modern pioneer of cool climate wine growing in Australia. It was once known for its rich, full bodied, take-no-prisoners chardonnay and pinot noir, but the wines have become far more refined and elegant in recent times.
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Half a dozen years ago I had a sleepness night at the Ferngrove vineyard - I can attest that the Ferngrove’s Cossack riesling is (as the back label states) harvested at night. By mechanical harvesters. It’s always been a pretty handy wine.
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I opened this on Monday night and it looked too young to contemplate tasting. On Tuesday (Melbourne Cup) I went out and had a few too many beers and G&T’s to feel competent enough to taste it by the time I got home (which, by definition, is a tacit admission of incompetence). So Wednesday (or [...]